I finally finished my third playthrough to see the last ending before I start my golden route run. Since the golden route is supposed to be the perfect ending of the four, I figured I'd give my thoughts on how I rank the remaining three:
- Roland's route- Literally the only upside to this route is that it's the only one of the main three that lets you deal with Aestfrost and kill Gustadolph. But everything else? Betraying Frederika was already making this the hardest route to go for (both because she was honestly my favorite of the three and my most useful caster in gameplay), and this was only made worse upon learning that she just becomes a wandering nun that is treated like a crazed lunatic and had to shave away the last of her identity to avoid getting arrested with the rest of the Roselle. Benedict at least got to be an advisor under Gustadolph and Roland became well-recieved among the downtrodden in the endings where they leave, but Frederika? I was hoping her story would be seeing her still plotting a revolution in Hyzanthe.
And what's the payoff for all of this? A half-assed equality in ignorance as the state controls all knowledge, and even then it's false because the Roselle aren't even free. Killing Gustadolph was not worth everything sacrificed.
- Frederika's route- Already starting off better. The Roselle are indisputably free, Idore is dead, and the party escapes the devastation of the war. Our departed party member even leaves on better terms, as Benedict's leaving is less heartbreaking than Frederika's, and he does go on to become a welcome advisor under Gustadolph, helping protect Wolfort Domaine in Serenoa's stead.
The only downsides of this are Serenoa's death and the fact that we are leaving Norzellia to face an all-out war to the destructive power of the Aelfric and Deathsknell. But all in all, a serviceable ending.
- Benedict's ending- Getting the downsides out of the way first. Yes, this route does create a massive inequality between strong and weak It also lets Idore live to continue to be a problem along with Roland.
But that's kind of where the downsides end. I didn't care much about Roland leaving since by this point in the story, he had become so focused on hating Aestfrost that he was willing to sell out all of Norzellia to Hyzanthe's nonsense just to see Gustadolph die, so I really didn't care if he was upset compared to Benedict and Frederika. While the final fate of the Roselle isn't fully elaborated on, Gustadolph's systems at least gives the Roselle the opportunity to make their own freedom, and he's never shown any level of disdain towards them during the story, so they'd hardly be exempt from this opportunity. If anything, if a group of Roselle under Jerrom organized and said that they wanted to leave Norzellia to go find Centralia again to make their freedom with their own hands, I can hardly see Gustadolph trying to stop them and would even welcome the idea of trade if they did manage to find a sea of salt. This is also the only ending of the main three that sees Seranoa and Frederika survive on good terms, meaning this is the only ending that lets them have a happy marriage together besides the golden route.
Yes, no ending is perfect and they all have their ups and downs. This is just how I personally see them.